Trying Times
by CapturingStelena
Summary: Elena's pregnant and Stefan doesn't know what to do. Will their baby be normal? Will Elena survive?
1. Chapter 1

Putting her hands over her head, Elena took deep breaths. Standing in front of the mirror in the bathroom she held with her, a pregnancy test. Elena had missed her period that was due 2 weeks ago, and that could possibly mean that she was pregnant. Two lines appeared on the pregnancy test stick, Elena suddenly felt her heart drop. Feeling like she couldn't breathe or see, Elena took deep breaths, it was more than overwhelming. Was it a dream? Panicking heavily, Elena looked into the mirror and ran her fingers through her hair, was she really pregnant? How was it possible? Vampires couldn't procreate.

Stefan had been cleaning up Elena's lunch in the kitchen when he realised that she had been gone for a while. She had only said she was going to the bathroom so unless she had been sick he didn't really know why she would be gone so long. Wiping his hands on a nearby tea towel and throwing it back down on the counter, he made his way up the stairs of the Boarding House to his bathroom. The door was shut, and he could hear Elena in there. He knocked lightly on the door, speaking quietly but still loud enough so that she would hear. "Elena?" he asked. "Are you okay? Do you need anything?"

She heard footsteps approaching her and decided to try and calm herself down, the panting just made it worse. The whole thought of being pregnant overwhelmed her, it wasn't even possible and that just made Elena worry so much more. "Elena, are you okay?" Stefan asked once he had reached the door. Elena wasn't sure if she should tell Stefan and worry him, maybe she could just go talk to Bonnie about it, but they were a couple and as Elena had said once, "No secrets." She sighed softly before biting her lip nervously, "No.. I'm not okay." She said, her tone was shaky, you could tell she was extremely worried.

Stefan's brow furrowed in concern for his girlfriend behind the bathroom door. "Can I come in?" he asked, trying to mask his concern. He didn't want to make things worse if there was something wrong by letting her know that he was worried about her. He was practically dying not being able to see her and comfort her if she needed it, but he was going to respect her privacy and that included not barging into the bathroom unless she asked him to come in. "Are you sick?"

"You can come in." She said biting her lip nervously. What was she going to tell him? That she was pregnant? She was, well it read that she was, but it wasn't possible, it couldn't be. She took some deep breaths before standing over near the sink, feeling a tad nauseous, Elena waited for Stefan to enter the bathroom.

Stefan didn't hesitate to open the door and come in once he said that she could. He expected to find her on the floor curled around the toilet like she did when she was sick. But instead he found her leaning against the bathroom sink. He couldn't pinpoint her expression, it wasn't one he hadn't seen on her before and this just made this whole situation worse. Using his enhanced speed, he ran to her side. "What is it? What's wrong? Tell me," he said quickly, one arm reaching around to hold her and one going to her hair, stroking it soothingly to try and help her calm down. Whatever had her upset he was going to sort it out.

She bit her lip again and concentrated on the floor, she felt sick and she was also worried at the same time, it completely overwhelmed her. "I.. I missed it." She said eerily, before focusing her gaze back up to Stefan's eyes. Closing her eyes, she squeezed them shut slightly, "I took.. I took a pregnancy test," His reaction was probably going to be priceless which made her feel even more uneasy.

Stefan was just getting more and more confused as time went on. "You missed it? Missed what?" he didn't know what was going on, and he really wished she would just spit it out so that he could help her. His eyes shot up to her face when she said she had taken a pregnancy test. Suddenly it all clicked. Her period, she had missed her period. "Why would you take a test? It's not possible for us to..." he trailed off, the expression on her face making him shut up for a second. "Please explain to me what's going on," he begged.

"I was late, it's been 2 weeks, Stefan.. I had to take one." She said putting her hand over her forehead, questioning her feel even more uneasy, she didn't know herself. "I don't know what's going on, Stefan." Elena was shaken up, confused and worried, it wasn't exactly the best mixture.

"But we can't have a baby. I'm a vampire," he said, hoping that if he said it enough it would make whatever was happening go away. Suddenly a thought occurred to him. "It wasn't positive," he told her, but her expression told him that wasn't the case. "Was it?" he asked, his voice rising as panic started to set in.

"I know... but." She said looking up at him, the look in his eyes, they were both stunned. She looked back down at her feet, not wanting to answer him she bit her lip, and looked up at him, not even bothering to say a word, the look in her eyes probably gave him a hint to what the answer was.

The look on her face told him exactly what he was dreading. "Oh my God," he whispered, taking a step back and folding his arms across his chest. "How?" he said, mostly to himself. "I can't... It's impossible..." he was lost for words and couldn't help feeling a pang of sadness. This wasn't how things were meant to go. When people found out they were expecting a child there was meant to be hugging and happy tears, but all Stefan could feel was worry and dread. What did this mean? Was the baby human? How had they managed to do this? His head swam and he slid to the floor so he wouldn't pass out. He reached out and grabbed her hand, pulling him to the ground next to him. He rubbed small circles into the palm of her hand and tried to put on the calmest voice he could muster. "It's going to be okay," he promised.

"I don't know, I don't get it myself, Stefan." Elena said looking over at him. They were both at loss for words, it couldn't be, and vampires couldn't procreate. Finding out that you were pregnant was supposed to be one of the happiest moments of your life, apparently, but it wasn't for Elena, it read that she was pregnant, but it just couldn't be, she was in awe. She looked down at him as he pulled her down to the bathroom floor with her. "What are we going to do?" She said before putting her hand over her mouth, she felt something coming up and then dashed over to the toilet, making sure she got it all out.

The pair sat in silence for a moment, trying to come up with some kind of solution that would help them. Stefan was about to suggest that they take her to the doctor immediately, or ask Bonnie about what she knew and if she could possibly find out anything about their baby to be. But before he could get a word out Elena was heaving over the toilet. He rushed to her side, gathering her hair and holding it back. "It's okay, I'm here," he soothed, rubbing her back while he wished he could take this all away from her.

Being sick was one of the side effects from being pregnant, Elena didn't just get sick like that, she barely got sick anyway, and even if she was, healing her with blood was always an option. "Stefan, what do I do?" She said, they were both confused, Stefan was probably extremely confused to as how it was possible, it couldn't be, it was _impossible. _She backed herself away from the toilet and pushed her hair out of the way, looking over at him with her innocent but confused brown eyes.

He reached up and took her face in his hands, brushing his thumb across her cheek. "You're going to brush your teeth and then I'm taking you to the doctor. We're going to find out as much as we can about it. And then we're going to see Bonnie to see if she can help in any way." He spoke quickly, not wanting to waste any time. He leaned forward and pressed his lips to her forehead gently. "I will make sure you are going to be okay," he told her.

She bit her lip and nodded her head slowly, it was probably best to go see a doctor about it anyway, even if they couldn't give her the answers she needed, Bonnie could do the impossible. "I love you." She said, getting up slowly, gripping hand to hand with Stefan.

He helped her stand and grabbed her toothbrush for her, squeezing toothpaste onto it and handing it to her. "I love you too," he replied, his voice cracking with the emotion that came with that statement. Stefan had a sickening feeling that he would end up losing Elena because of this, and he couldn't let that happen. He couldn't lose her. Not again. "I'm going to go and get the car I'll be back up here in a second. Brush," he ordered, and disappeared to go and get the car. It was amazing really, how fast Stefan could move when he had a purpose. He had raced downstairs, driven the car out so it was waiting out by the front door, and raced back upstairs to fetch Elena all in the space of a minute. "Let's go," he said, his voice strained.

She took the toothbrush from his hands and looked behind her to see Stefan disappear outside to get the car. She looked upon herself in the mirror whilst brushing her tooth, it was so weird how something like this could change everything, it was astonishing, really. The minute she picked up the stick that revealed what was going to change her life forever was supposed to be a happy moment, but it wasn't, at all, it was just so hard to actually believe. She heard him dash back upstairs once had gotten the car ready and went back to the bathroom to go get her. "Coming." She said before taking one last look in the mirror and then suddenly walked out of the bathroom, taking a deep breath.

They walked out of the Boarding House in silence, neither of them knowing what they could possibly say to fill the silence. Stefan helped her into the car and shut the door behind her before going around to his side and climbing in. He started the car and they began their journey to the doctor. This would be the beginning of a long story that neither of them was prepared for.


	2. Chapter 2

"Elena Gilbert" called the doctor who thankfully was Meredith, Dr. Fell, stood in front of both Stefan and Elena herself. She felt the nerves kicking in as she stood up slowly. Stefan had gotten up with her, which made her think he was willing to sit in there with her no matter how long it would take to find out, even if they couldn't find out exactly what was going on, they would resort to Bonnie next, who hopefully could help them out even more. Meredith opened the door for both of them and Elena took a deep breath, this was going to be a long, long day. Placing herself down onto a chair facing Meredith she bit her lip nervously.

"What can I help you two with?" Meredith asked with a smile on her face. Stefan had personally requested her, knowing that she could be trusted with whatever they did or didn't find out today. He had asked her to organise an ultrasound too. 

"Elena thinks she could be, uh," he said, clearing his throat before he said the next word. "Pregnant. And we need to find out as much as we can about it." Stefan could feel Meredith's heavy gaze on the two of them, and had to look away. 

"Aren't you..." she said, trailing off. Stefan nodded, knowing what she was asking. 

"I don't know how this happened. But I need you to fix it," he told her. Meredith nodded and walked over to a cupboard where she pulled out some rubber gloves and gel that you used for ultrasounds. 

"If you could just lie on this bed over here and lift your shirt up, Elena, then we can try and find out what's going on," she said, and patted the bed next to her. Meredith turned the screen on, and pressed a lot of buttons.

Elena looked over at Stefan, overwhelmed, shocked and overall confused, you could basically describe that as both of their reactions. She nodded her head slowly as Meredith asked her to go lie down onto that bed so that they could check up on everything and to see if Elena was... pregnant. Walking over to the bed, Elena placed herself on top of it, pulling up her shirt slightly just so that Meredith could find out what exactly was going on. She closed her eyes for a couple of minutes before opening them again fully, this was the moment of truth, whatever she was going to tell them after she had finished with the ultrasound was either going to change their lives forever or just go back to being normal, which seemed impossible because of the reading of the pregnancy test she had taken earlier.

Meredith squirted a good amount of the gel onto Elena's belly, and using the wand connected to the screen she held it against Elena's stomach. It was about a minute before she spoke, and Stefan could feel the tension in the air.

Was she actually pregnant? Was the baby normal? Would Elena be okay? All of these questions and more raced through his head as he tried to get a handle on himself. He needed to be calm and strong for Elena. He couldn't break down. Meredith cleared her throat and removed the wand from Elena's stomach, turning to face the couple. 

"You're definitely pregnant," she told her, her voice serious. "There's a heartbeat, some arms and some legs, though it's too early to tell what the gender is yet. I'd say you're about eight weeks along," she told them.

Stefan couldn't speak, this was actually happening to them. But he managed to move his lips and form a sentence, though he wasn't sure how. 

"Is Elena going to be okay?" he asked. "Is there anything... unusual?" 

"I don't know if she's going to be okay," she told them honestly. "I haven't exactly dealt with this kind of thing before. But from what I can see, the baby appears to be normal."

Stefan relaxed a tiny bit, but what Meredith had told them didn't really mean anything. Elena might be in danger. The baby might not be normal. "What happens from here is up to you. You can keep the baby if that's what you wish, but if you feel the pregnancy would be too risky, we can organise other means." Basically, what she was saying was they could deal with it on their own or kill it. Stefan flinched at the thought, no matter what this baby was, the thought of killing something that he and Elena had made together made him feel physically ill. 

"Thank you," he managed to get out, and took hold of Elena's hand.

She tried to smile softly at Meredith as she walked out hand in hand with Stefan. Sighing out heavily, she really didn't know how all of this was even possible, neither did Stefan, it was too hard to believe that it was actually happening, he was a vampire, they couldn't have a baby together. They either had the option of keeping the baby and going along with the whole pregnancy or getting rid of it and going back to their normal lives, not really normal, but more normal than this. There were no words that Elena could even begin to think of to say to Stefan, she was basically speechless. It even made Elena feel more uneasy knowing that Meredith didn't know if Elena was going to be okay or that if the baby was going to be normal or not.

"I can't believe this." She said before coming to a stop and looking into Stefan's eyes.

"Me either," he replied. He stepped forward, wrapping his arms around Elena's tiny waist, her flat stomach pressing against him. He wondered what it would be like to be hugging her, her belly swollen, growing their child. But he pushed those thoughts down, he couldn't let himself hope. Not now. But after 150 years of thinking he would never become a father, he would never have children, suddenly it was happening. And he couldn't help but feel a little bit excited. "I'm going to be here for you. Whatever happens. Whatever you decide I will support you," he told her. "But I think before we make any decisions, we need to go and see Bonnie."

She felt his fingers creep up to her waist, which made her feel a little more relaxed. Elena nodded her head slowly, knowing that he was going to be there for her made her feel comforted and less uneasy, which was always good.

"Right," Going to see Bonnie was a good idea, maybe she could help them by giving them a little more information, but only if she could, they weren't looking to stress her about it too. "What if the baby's not normal? What could it be?" She wasn't really looking for answers from Stefan, seeing as he had no idea, but just questioning the thought out loud to start a conversation about it.

"I don't know," he said, the stress of the situation creeping into his voice even though he was fighting to keep it at bay. "We'll work it out. We always do," he told her, pulling away from her. He grabbed her hand and led her to the car, opening her door for her. He watched her climb in and shut her door before going around to his side.

Their car trip to Bonnie's was much like their one to the doctor's office. Tense and silent. But they arrived soon after, and Bonnie was standing on her porch waiting for them. Her expression was serious, and Stefan wondered if she knew something that they didn't, or if she was just as worried and clueless as they were.

Bonnie sensed the serious look in both Elena and Stefan's face. She began to approach the both of them, something was obviously wrong and Bonnie had to find out what was bothering them, she could sense it in their eyes. "Stefan, Elena." She said trying to give them both a warm smile, they both looked so scared. "I take it as you're both here for my help with something?" Bonnie's head cocked to the side. 

"Bonnie, hey." Elena tried to start up the conversation normally, not just giving her the news straight away, but the suspense that the couple were both in just made Elena want to blurt it all out. "There's no easy way to say this, but... I missed my period, it's been 2 weeks and I took a pregnancy test, you know, just in case... and it showed up positive. So Stefan and myself went to Dr. Fell's office to see if anything was wrong and she gave me an ultrasound... and it showed up that I was eight weeks pregnant." There, she had said it. That was probably one of the hardest things she had ever had to say in her whole life.

"We just need to know... if there's anything in your grimoire, or some spell or... anything that you can do to help us find out more about this," Stefan pleaded as Bonnie lead them inside and up the stairs to her bedroom. Stefan wasn't religious, but right now he would pray to any and every god that was listening. They needed help and Bonnie was the last place they would be able to find it.

"I haven't read upon any spells in relation to what's happening right now, but I guess I could have a look for you guys. Sit on my bed," Bonnie said looking over at Elena and Stefan, under her bed was her grimoire spell book and flicked through the pages to see if she could find anything that had to do with vampire/human pregnancies or even vampire babies. There was nothing in her book which made her feel a bit bad, they came out in their way to seek for help and she couldn't provide them with anything. "I'm sorry, there's nothing in here that has anything to do with vampire/human pregnancies or vampire babies, I can't help you." Bonnie bit her lip and looked over at the couple. 

Elena nodded her head, so, Bonnie couldn't help them, that meant that both of them had to find out everything themselves, which was probably going to be a bit of a struggle, but if they ever needed Bonnie to help with something at least they knew that they could count on her. "That's okay, Bonnie. Thank you for trying, though," Elena turned her head around to face Stefan and looked at him miserably.

Stefan nodded at Bonnie, he had feared that this would happen, but also expected it. How many times had he been told that vampires couldn't procreate? How many times had he and Elena been unprotected but nothing like this had happened before. He ran a hand through his hair, Elena's expression making him want to hold her until she didn't hurt anymore. "Let's go home, okay?" he said gently, taking her hand. They arrived at the Boarding House and Stefan took Elena in his arms, carrying her at inhuman speed to his bedroom.

"I know we don't have to decide anything right now, but do you want to talk about it? I want to know what's on your mind. Please," he said gently, his eyes pleading.

Everything in their lives was about to get a little bit more crazy, especially because they knew nothing about the baby, who knew if it was even a baby, it could even be a vampire, or both, which seemed impossible but nothing was really impossible nowadays with having vampires and all other Supernatural creatures laying around in Mystic. "I honestly don't know what to say, it doesn't feel real enough,'' they did have to talk about it sooner or later, but talking about it earlier seemed like a good thing to do. "What do you think about it?" Elena questioned Stefan; she wanted to know his thoughts on the whole thing.

"I'm scared. For you," he told her, and his forehead creased as he frowned. "But a part of me has always wanted to be a father. And I... We somehow managed to beat the odds and create... this," he said, placing a hand on her stomach. "I don't know what's coming up for us, but I'm prepared to do whatever it takes to ensure that you are safe..." Stefan tried to word his sentences so he wouldn't make Elena feel like she had to keep the baby because he wanted to. He wanted her to realise that even though this was a possibility for him, she would always come first. "You're the only one I care about, Elena. And if you don't want this, then I don't want this either."

"I'm scared too..." Truth be told, she was frightened about the whole thing, she'd baffled on about how it wasn't even possible when it actually was, or seemed to be right now, she was pregnant, with a baby, or who knows what, but for now it was a baby, it seemed normal which Meredith had given them with that information to cling onto for a while. When his hands placed onto her stomach, she couldn't help but imagine what it'd be like when her stomach was bulging and his hands were placed onto it, if she were to keep the baby, that is. "I... want to keep the baby, Stefan." The words stuttered as she spoke, it seemed like he was willing to do whatever she wanted to do with the baby which made her feel a bit better about the whole thing.

His heart swelled as she uttered the words that would change his life forever. "You... You do?" he asked, trying not to let himself be happy. Not yet. But he already was, he wasn't seeing this as a problem anymore, more like a gift.

"I... I do." She tried to smile at the fact that she had decided to keep the baby but it wasn't going to be like a normal couple finding out that they were going to have a baby, it was far from that, much different seeing as Stefan was a vampire and that they couldn't procreate, well… until now.

He let out a small laugh, a grin coming over his face despite his earlier decision to not be happy about this. "We're going to have a baby. We're going to be a family," he said, and as soon as he said the words he knew it was right. They were doing the right thing and he felt in his heart that everything was going to be all right. How could it not? They had survived so much, it would be wrong if they didn't survive this too. "I love you," he told her, speaking with conviction. He had never said anything truer in his life.

She smiled and giggled lightly. "We are," Elena had always thought about having a baby, which didn't include Stefan in the whole thing, but now it was going to be better than how she had thought about it, it was becoming a reality for the both of them. "I love you too." She said as she leaned in, pressing her lips against his firmly. Everything was going to change as for now, good change? Bad change? Who knew, they just had to pray that everything was going to be okay for the next 7 months.

He leaned over and pressed his lips to hers lightly, and pulled away slowly. "Are you hungry? I'll make you something to eat. No poultry or fish for the next 7 months, and a bunch of other stuff," he spoke quickly, giddy with excitement. He realised what he was doing and tried to get a handle on himself. He couldn't be this excited. Something could go wrong and then all their happiness would be for nothing.

"Cook me something, Mr "I'm a good cook", She couldn't help but giggle to herself, Stefan was actually a great cook, he was Italian so whatever he cooked ended up being delicious. Elena smiled softly at Stefan, they were going to be parents or at least they thought they were, anything could go wrong, only time would tell so they had to stay positive about it and not jinx anything. "No smoking, no drinking for 7 months, wow," Elena laughed as she glanced over at Stefan, it's not like she had ever smoked, she may have drank rarely, but not for 7 months, it wasn't really going to be a problem.

"That's going to be tough for you, seeing as you're such an alcoholic and a chain smoker," he teased. "I wonder what Damon will say about all of this," he mused. "And Caroline. She'll likely call position of favourite Aunt," he laughed. Suddenly all kinds of things were coming to mind. Who they would make the godparents, who would be at the birth, what they would name him or her, how they would decorate the nursery. Stefan knew he was getting ahead of himself, but it was too late now. They deserved to be happy, and he was going to enjoy every second of this.

"It sure will be, you better confiscate all the liquor from Jeremy's room and Damon's cabinet." She couldn't help but smile, he was making her feel less uneasy about the whole situation and tried to make her think of all the positive things about the pregnancy. "Caroline will definitely call favourite Aunt," Who knew what Damon was going to think about all of this, she couldn't afford to worry about him anyway, that would just be a put down to the conversation. Stefan seemed to be extra excited about it all and Elena was too, thankfully.

"What are you hoping for, a girl or a boy? What does your mother's intuition tell you?" he asked her seriously. He had completely forgotten about his previous offer to make her food, he was too caught up in the conversation they were having now. Knowing Elena, she would change her mind about what gender she thought the baby was at least 50 times before it was born, or before they found out when she was far enough along.

"Girl, I think we'd have a pretty cute girl, what do you think?" She smiled softly, they were getting too attached to the whole conversation, which was good, they were just planning out or thinking about what was going to happen in the future, or 7 months.

"A girl sounds perfect," he said, his eyes sparkling. He could just imagine. A bouncing baby girl that looked exactly like a mini version of Elena, with no interference from his looks. "She's going to be perfect."


	3. Chapter 3

Stefan lay on his side in bed, watching Elena sleep next to him. The gentle rise and fall of her chest making him wish he didn't have to wake her. She looked so peaceful and content; he didn't want to disturb that. But they had an appointment today, and the bulge under her shirt reminded him of that. Elena was exactly 18 weeks pregnant today, and they were going to have Meredith Fell give them another ultrasound to find out the gender of their baby. So far nothing had gone wrong, Elena was healthy, aside for her morning sickness in her first trimester. The baby was growing and even Stefan could hear his or her heartbeat now. He reached over, putting a hand on her swollen belly. "Elena," he said gently, trying to wake her from her sleep. If she slept any longer then they would be late for their appointment, and Stefan knew Elena would be mad at him if he let her sleep.

She groaned lightly as she opened her eyes slowly, she was having a good sleep, for a change and of course she had somewhere to be. "What's on the agenda today?" She yawned softly, her belly was getting more swollen day by day and it was extra hard to walk around carrying an extra amount of weight.

"We're going to visit Meredith at the hospital," he told her happily. He found it funny that she didn't seem to remember what today was. He had felt like they were waiting an eternity for it. But he was also nervous. What if this scan revealed something out of the ordinary? He really hoped it wouldn't, and their luck would continue in the same way it had for the past 18 weeks.

"Right, I totally forgot." She exhaled out heavily, before getting out of the bed slowly walking over to Stefan's bathroom. "I'll be ready in 15." She smiled softly, looking over at him as she dragged her clothes into the bathroom with her. After having a quick shower and getting dressed, she approached Stefan; biting her lip, she seemed nervous. "Let's go," She said before taking a deep breath.

They arrived at the small town hospital in a matter of minutes, and made their way to reception. But before they even reached it a happy looking Meredith intercepted them. 

"Oh! You two don't need to sign in, come this way with me," she said, and walked with them to a room. "You know the drill," she spoke to Elena. "Shirt up, on the bed. Oh and is it okay if I take some bloods this time?" she asked. "It'll help me to do further tests. Find out if there's anything we need to know about this little person," she smiled.

Elena went over to the bed, just like last time and pulled up her shirt slightly. "Take some blood?" She put her head up slowly and looked over at Stefan and bit her lip. "Sure." Her brow furrowed, Stefan should probably leave the room until the procedure was done. "Stefan, do you want to... go out until it's done?" She was only trying to do what was best.

"Yeah I think that would be best," he agreed. Even though he was a lot better, he was still very unstable when it came to blood. And he didn't want to risk Elena or the baby by being in the room when they did this. "Just don't let me miss any of the scan, okay?" he said, and got up to leave the room. He walked a few steps down the hallway and came to a stop. This should be far enough. 

Meredith pulled a needle and a tube out of a drawer, wrapping the tourniquet above Elena's elbow. "You have good veins," she commented as she felt the crease in Elena's arm for one she could draw blood from. She inserted the needle and then the tube, and watched as the dark red liquid filled it. She filled 2 more tubes, and then removed the tourniquet and needle from her arm, replacing it with a piece of cotton wool. "Just hold that there for a few minutes. Stefan you can come in now!" she called, knowing he would be able to hear her. Stefan came back in the room, and smiled at the two. 

"Ready to see your baby?" Meredith asked them, and smiled as she reached for the gel.

Elena held the cotton wool against the bit that Meredith had just taken blood from and held it down tightly. As Stefan came back into the room she smiled softly. Her arm stung a little, but the excitement of finding out the baby's gender and seeing the baby distracted her from thinking about the little pinch. "Ready. Are you ready, Stefan?" Elena looked over at him, this was going to be a very happy moment for the both of them.

"Of course I'm ready," he replied, taking Elena's spare hand in his. The pair watched the monitor closely. Meredith squeezed the gel onto her stomach, and using the wand brought a picture up onto the screen. 

"There's your baby," she said. And this time it actually looked more like a baby. Stefan couldn't look away from the screen. That was their child. His heart swelled with pride and love for Elena and the little life that was growing inside of her. He squeezed her hand gently. 

"There's it's feet and it's head. It's hands, arms and it's tiny heartbeat," she smiled, looking over at the couple. "Do you want to know if it's a he or a she?" she asked.

She squeezed Stefan's hand back tightly; this was going to be one of those moments that was going to change their lives forever. She looked up at the screen, that was their baby up there, she could see it's head, it's feed, it's hands, the babies whole body and it's tiny heartbeat. "Wow," She looked over at Stefan and smiled with excitement. "What is it? A girl, a boy?" Elena questioned Meredith.

"It looks like you're having a little girl," she told them, smiling. Stefan looked at Elena then, and leaned forward, planting a kiss on her lips. 

"You called it," he told her, laughing. "A baby girl," he said, smiling hugely. "And everything's going okay health wise?" he asked. 

"Everything seems normal," Meredith told them as she printed out some photos she had taken of their baby.

Elena smiled widely, she had said that she wanted a girl and that's exactly what gender the baby was going to be. She was thrilled, extremely happy and so was Stefan. "We're having a little girl," She couldn't help but repeat herself out loud and in her head. "I feel kind of dizzy right now, Meredith." Elena admitted, she didn't want to risk anything; maybe it was just a side effect of being nauseous.

Suddenly Stefan was on his feet, worry written all over his face. "What kind of dizzy? Was it something you ate?" he fired questions at her. 

"It's fine, Stefan. A lot of women get dizziness during pregnancy. I'll just prescribe you some meds for it and you can pick them up from the pharmacy on your way out," Meredith said, wiping the gel off Elena's stomach. "You guys are free to go," she said, handing them an envelope containing their photos of the baby and a separate piece of paper with the prescription.

"Just feeling about nauseous, like everyday." She nodded her head, reassuring Stefan, there was nothing to worry about for now. "Thank you, Meredith." Elena gave her a warm smile and hopped off from the bed, grabbing the envelope from her, Stefan and Elena both walked out together out of the hospital to their car, hand in hand. "We have to go pick up what she prescribed for me then we can go home, yeah?" Elena questioned Stefan.

"Sounds like a plan. Or..." he trailed off. "We could go around to Caroline's house and surprise her with these," he said, smiling. Caroline was Stefan's best friend, and as soon as they had told her that they were expecting a baby, she was over the moon with excitement. She had ordered Elena and Stefan to tell her first out of everybody what the gender of the baby was, and she wanted pictures. And who were they to deny Caroline?

She smiled brightly, "Let's go to Caroline's then," She giggled softly, walking over to where Stefan had parked their car. She opened the door for herself and sat herself down into the car, waiting for Stefan to get inside the car too; they had lots of photos to show to "Aunty Caroline."

They drove to the pharmacy quickly, and Stefan ran in to get the prescription while Elena waited in the car. He came out quickly and then they made their way to Caroline's house. They pulled up outside, and Stefan helped Elena out of the car. They made their way up the path to her house hand in hand; Elena held the envelope with the photos. Stefan knocked lightly on the door and stepped back while they waited for her to answer. A few moments later Stefan heard the rush of footsteps and Caroline appeared in the window. 

"Hi!" she exclaimed excitedly as she opened the door. She stepped outside to wrap her arms around Elena, her gaze dropping to her belly. "Oh my God you're getting huge!" she told her friend. "Come inside!"

She smiled when Caroline opened the door, and leant into Caroline's arms for a hug. "I know," She smiled hugely and followed Caroline inside her house with Stefan. "We have photos for you, we kept our promise about showing you the photos first." She said giggling softly.

Stefan followed after Elena and Caroline, closing the door behind them. He wasn't going to be able to get a word in while Caroline was this excited so he was keeping his mouth shut for now, letting Elena do all the talking. 

"You found out what it was?" she asked excitedly, taking the photos from Elena. She opened the envelope and gasped when she saw the pictures, her hand shot up to cover her mouth and even tears formed in the corners of her eyes. "This is your baby," she said, pointing to the photo and then looking at Elena's stomach. Caroline looked at Stefan and then moved to hug him, her arms flinging around his neck.

"Thank you for having super sperm and giving me this niece or nephew," she told him, holding on tight. 

"You're welcome," he laughed. "And that's your niece in those pictures," he said quietly. Caroline moved away from him and looked at the photos again. 

"My niece," she said, smiling. "What are you going to name her?" she asked.

Elena laughed at Caroline's remark, she saw the tears forming in the corner in her eyes and couldn't help but smile. "We don't know yet, we have a couple of months to go, Care." Elena wasn't really sure what her and Stefan were going to call her, heck, they hadn't even thought about the names yet, they'd just over excited themselves about everything but the name.

"I can help with that," Caroline said. "I have a book of baby names, I bought it last week for you guys," she said. Stefan laughed at his friend, she was always prepared for everything, and he couldn't help but be fond of her enthusiasm. 

"Thank you Caroline," he said genuinely, and he was sure he would be thanking her a lot during this pregnancy. Caroline wasn't one to do anything by halves, and since Caroline couldn't have children of her own, he was certain that this baby was going to be the most adored child in the whole country.


End file.
